Gingerbread District
"The peripheral area that the city will gradually absorb is still made up of great properties belonging to characters who have enriched themselves in politics, trading or agiotage. It is on this rural site, far from the rumors of the city, sheltered from the fatal fires, that the bourgeoisie sets its sights. For all bourgeois who respects himself and holds to its economic prestige, the big fashion will be to own a villa in Turgeau, in Little-of-Thing or in Desprez. From this moment will be fixed the aristocratic drawing of these suburban zones. .... A residential area already in full evolution, Turgeau, thanks to the social situation of its inhabitants, all influential politicians, barons of finance, members of the elite of the Haitian and foreign trade, sees dedicating itself its reputation of district of elegance and luxury. From the Petit-Four begin to spread out of pretty and charming villas, those of Eugène Poulle, Mrs. Messac, Frédéric Carvalho, ouard Caze, heirs Gateau. The closer you get to the mountain, the more straight lines, the finish of houses. In the middle of an abundant tropical vegetation stands the imposing cottage of the married Ed. Pinckombe, Babiole. A little further, we admire the nice villa of Godefroy, those of Frédéric Marcelin, The Tranquille House, Tracy Riboul, Louis Horelle, Eugene de Lespinasse, President Solitude Villa's cottage, and up there, in freshness and greenery, on the edge of built properties, the area of Bamboo, belonging to the Soulouque family. There are two comfortable mansions, one housing the United States minister, built in 1849, and the largest one and floor Soulouque. The fallen Empress sinks a peaceful retreat in the company of her daughter, Madame Amitie Lubin, ex-Princess Olive, a woman of high education and distinction." -George CORVINGTON, Port-au-Prince, During the Years, Volume II, 1804-1915, Editions Cidhica, 2007. Page 342-344. The Gingerbread Houses represent a small piece of the rich architectural heritage of Haiti. While homes of this style can be found in various parts of the country, including Petion-ville and the more distant cities of Jacmel and Cap-Haïtien, the largest concentration and some of the finest examples are found in the approximately 1.5 square kilometer area southeast of downtown Port-au-Prince, incorporating five neighborhoods: Bois Verna, Turgeau, Babiole, Pacot, and Deprez. Developed from what Georges Corvington called “the green hillside” and characterized by the traditional residences of the Haitian elite,1 these neighborhoods together present a high level of urban integrity and can thus be considered a cohesive historic district. The term “Gingerbread” was adopted in the 1950s as a result of American tourists visiting Haiti who likened them to the similarly ornate Victorian-era buildings in the United States. However, this Gingerbread style is at once a mélange of international influences and uniquely Haitian. The significance of these residences has been celebrated in architectural literature and was well summarized in their nomination to the 2010 World Monuments Watch: The Gingerbread movement began in 1881 with the Haitian National Palace, built during the presidency of Lysius Salomon. It ‘served as a model and set new standards of construction in Port-au-Prince: a timber frame, filled with brick and adorned with carved wood on the façade and roof banks, high ceilings and large openings onto vast porches. In 1887 the building currently housing the famous Hotel Oloffson was commissioned by the son of President Augustin Sam. Built by the French architect Brunet, it was originally a private villa modeled after European resort architecture. The building is an internationally known icon of Haitian architecture and was the setting of Graham Greene’s 1966 bestselling novel, The Comedians. In 1895 three young Haitians traveled to Paris to study architecture and returned to Haiti inspired to build on this nascent architectural movement by adapting the contemporary French resort style to Haiti’s tropical climate. Georges Baussan, Léon Mathon and Joseph-Eugène Maximilien filled the void of Haitian architecture, designing homes which brought together the Haitian flair for elaborate patterns and bright color with the grandeur of French resort architecture, creating a true Haitian style of lattice-work houses. These three men led a movement responsible for scores of elegant houses in the upscale neighborhoods of Port-au-Prince. Unfortunately this great period of Haitian architecture came to an end in 1925 when the city’s mayor ordered all new buildings to be made of masonry, reinforced concrete, or iron to prevent fire. The Gingerbread houses capture a time of prosperity when Haiti was a vibrant part of the international community, hosting the Paris Exposition in 1900 and adapting and incorporating foreign influences into Haitian popular art and architecture. The brightly painted fret work, ornate balustrades and the cut-outs adorning doors and windows are emblematic of the culture and time. The intricate patterns found throughout these houses are thought to be representative of the traditional ‘vévé’ patterns traced on the floor to call the spirits to a voudou ceremony. These houses, with their unique Haitian style and native architects are symbolic of Haiti’s hard fought independence. While this architecture incorporates elements from abroad, it can truly claim to be indigenous, setting it apart from the mostly colonial architecture in the rest of the Caribbean. 2 Due to Haiti’s tropical climate, the Gingerbread houses were designed to take advantage of ventilation and shade, and exclude moisture. Large windows and doors allow for cross breezes. Tall ceilings and large attics with ventilators allow hot air to rise, collect, and be expelled. Deep porches that extend from the front façade to the side walls provide shading for the windows and allow the living space to extend outside the walls of the house. Heavy shutters on the windows allow them to be closed quickly and securely in the event of a tropical storm or hurricane. Raised first floors help prevent dampness from reaching wood framing and interior spaces, and provide for control of insects. Steep roofs quickly shed water during frequent rain storms. Originally and almost exclusively, the Gingerbread buildings were constructed as single-family residences (sometimes accommodating servants), mostly for affluent Haitians. However, there also were built—and still exist mainly in the northern and western portions of the district—many smaller and humbler buildings that exhibit simpler Gingerbread characteristics, and employ the same methods of construction. The majority of Gingerbread buildings in the area surveyed still serve as residences, and many are owned and inhabited by residents with direct lineage to the original owners. Some Gingerbreads are now occupied by extended or multiple families, or have been divided into apartments. However, many Gingerbread buildings in current neighborhoods of mixed-use have been adapted for non-residential use, including religious institutions, offices, numerous schools, and a prominent hotel. One Gingerbread building is currently being repaired and renovated as a restaurant (Figure 19). The original Gingerbread residences were typically set on generously sized properties (Figure 20). Decades of development pressure, especially close to the city center, commonly resulted in single or multiple subdivisions of properties, with subsequent construction of residential or non-residential buildings on the new properties. Since the mid-twentieth century, most new buildings have been constructed of concrete frame and/or concrete block walls with reinforced concrete slab floors and roofs. Increased urbanization of the Gingerbread district and associated security concerns have led to the prevalence of tall security walls and gates surrounding the Gingerbread properties. These security walls, as well as the infill buildings and the commonly seen additions of concrete and concrete block, have all conspired to cut off many of the Gingerbread buildings from public view. Construction materials Wood: Haiti was once a lush tropical island, replete with pines and broadleaf trees such as walnut and mahogany. Much of this building material was exploited and sent to Europe and North America, and by the late nineteenth century the forests were decimated (Figure 23). The wooden structural members surveyed during the mission were of heartwood of a durable species of softwood, such as Caribbean pine or fir, or sometimes of tropical hardwood. Wood for building construction is no longer locally available and must be imported. Clay (brick, mortar, plaster, and stucco): There are readily available deposits of relatively pure clay in and around Port-au-Prince. In the early part of the twentieth century calcareous clay deposits were used in the manufacture of ochre-colored brick and ferruginous clay deposits were used for red-colored brick. There were once several brick kilns in the Port-au-Prince area as well. The ochre and red bricks that were manufactured were used extensively in construction and can be seen on the Gingerbread houses. These bricks and hollow tiles come in rectangular and also decorative shapes in order to form architectural ornament such as water tables and cornices. Reportedly there were also clay roofing tiles produced, though clay roofing tiles were not seen during the Mission. The brick industry is no longer active in Haiti and has been dormant for quite some time. Clay was also used extensively in mortar for masonry construction—principally with rubble stone rather than with brick in the Gingerbread Houses. The clay in samples tested contained lime. It is not known whether additional lime had been added to the clay or if what was observed is the naturally occurring calcium in the calcareous clay. Lime (mortas, plaster, and stucco): Lime was a necessary ingredient for the manufacture of sugar and the raw material to make lime mortar is plentiful in Haiti, but the manufacture of quick lime from which lime mortar is made has disappeared in recent years with the introduction of the manufacture of cement. We know from archaeological research that lime kilns were constructed on Martinique and Jamaica in the seventeenth century. Limestone deposits found on the slopes of the Haitian mountains have been further exposed due to deforestation and consequent erosion from rainstorms. In addition, kalk lime was readily available by burning corals and shells. Lime mortars were typically used to lay up the brick in the Gingerbread Houses. Contemporary masonry construction in Port-au-Prince is almost entirely concrete block laid up with Portland cement mortar, usually as an infill to a poured-in-place reinforced-concrete frame. To our knowledge, lime mortar is no longer used in construction. Contemporary quarrying in Haiti has been limited to limestone (primarily for the manufacture of cement—a leading industry in 2002), and also clays, sand, gravel, and marble. Stone: Based on visual and initial acid testing, the principal constituent of the rubble stone masonry in the Gingerbread Houses is made from calcareous deposits, most seeming to originate from lifted oceanic deposits. On hydration, these stones became very friable and revealed clay constituents as well. This supports a hypothesis, yet to be proven by scientific testing, that the stone when quarried was originally found to be much harder and stronger, but that after it was removed from its natural bedding in the hillside and used in the construction, it lost its strength from loss of the overburden weight and subsequent exposure to the atmosphere. This may have been because it was geologically too young to have yet completely consolidated into natural rock before it was quarried. This would account for the almost uniform weakness of the stones used in this work in Port-au-Prince, regardless of their exposure or distance from the ground. By comparison, the stones in the rubble work in Léogâne and Jacmel are much harder because those locations had access to igneous rocks, not only weak limestone. Structural Iron and Steel: Iron and steelwork was imported from France and Belgium, and can be seen as lateral ties within masonry bearing-wall construction of the Gingerbread Houses (Figure 26). Le Manoir was the single Gingerbread house in Port-au-Prince observed that had extensive metal detailing on its balconies, though this ornament had been obscured by added enclosures. Concrete: The use of reinforced concrete was introduced into Haiti around the turn of the twentieth century. Some monumental buildings of the era used reinforced concrete including the Cathedrale de Notre Dame (1912) and the Palais Nationale (1918). Concrete slabs were incorporated into some of the Gingerbread Houses as original fabric, such as the upper floor of the entry tower on the Villa Castel Fleuri and the entire second floor of Le Manoir. In addition, concrete, concrete block, and Portland cement mortar have been used in many of the Gingerbread Houses for repairs and additions, typically providing a negative result from the earthquake, with a few exceptions. After the middle of the twentieth century, reinforced concrete and concrete block became prevalent for three primary reasons: a) a ban on wood construction was declared in Port-au-Prince in 1925 in response to a number of devastating fires in the city; b) after the 1940s, concrete and concrete block were increasingly seen as the building materials of choice in Haiti because they were considered to be more durable, technologically advanced, and modern, even becoming a status symbol; and c) concrete and concrete block are resistant to the strong wind and rain of hurricanes. External links https://www.wmf.org/sites/default/files/article/pdfs/WMF%20Haiti%20Mission%20Report.pdf Category:Geography of Haiti